2010 Blogs

Salamanca: The rice has passed

06/11/2011

We arrive at the Residencia Carmelitas. If you cannot tell, we are in a recycled building. The residence is run by the Carmelite Friars. St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) lived and studied here We are about 10 minutes from the Plaza Mayor. The website says 5, my legs say 10.

La Residencia Carmelitas

Originally, we thought that we had individual rooms, but upon arrival, we had to hurry and choose roommates. My roommate is from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The rooms look like dorms in very, very old buildings. My room has a desk, two beds and a chair.

Residence room

We arrive in time for lunch (around 2 p.m.). This establishes the routine for the cafeteria food at lunch and dinner: meat or fish and fries. The day was quiet and uneventful as we all unpacked our stuff and explored the city of Salamanca a bit.

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The next morning, I got up early for orientation. The meeting location is under the clock in the Plaza Mayor. I arrived early and was lucky enough to meet a viejo verde (old man on the prowl for foreign students from abroad). Salamanca has a large population of viejos verdes. I left for my group and Pedro has already moved on to his next prey, a woman taking photos on a nearby bench.

Plaza Mayor Photo: Saindy Claude

We had orientation at the Travel and Education offices. Several people were very tired and slept through orientation. The main idea of the orientation was to embrace the culture of Spain while we are here.We got a brief tour of the city: the University, money exchange, the library, and the cathedrals.

The welcome reception was at the Mater Asturias restaurant. There are metal chains hanging on the walls of electric green. The tall serpent pumps deliver Asturian cider. Our first dinner consisted of salad, paella, and a pudding type dessert. Dinner was my first taste of a La Rioja red wine. The vineyards for La Rioja are located along the Ebro River in Northern Spain. I am more of a liquor drinker than a wine drinker, so one glass of wine was more than enough for me. Our host told us that he hoped that this was the worst dinner of our stay in Salamanca. Paella, traditionally from Valencia, is not a quick meal. It takes hours to prepare paella and it is not good as a leftover (it's said that the rice has passed). Because the dish is so large, it is a family meal and Spaniards eat it on Sundays. Paella is customized for each area of Spain to include regional seafood, vegetables, and meats.

Mater Asturias Video